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M brought me a bottle of wine today – a peace offering because he is sketchy about the details last Saturday night at La Vita – he asked me if I am mad at him – I said no, but I also didn’t fill in the blanks.

Steve arrives tomorrow and I’m trying hard to get the house ready for him and to say the least none of it is going well – the valance sucks (I almost took it down myself), the porch was sanded and painted this evening and the next coat goes on – um – about the time he arrives.

I came up to do some work and the doorbell rang – well the doorbell in my office – because the doorbell to the house which plays who shot the lala is being fixed. I panicked because I hadn’t put up a barricade for the front and it had just been painted – sure enough I got down there and K’s size 13 feet where standing there with a bottle of wine – he’d come by to tell me how much he appreciates me.

Together we walk
The beat changing stage by stage
Our love abiding

by Graham da Ponte

Can’t stop thinking about Lucinda Williams’ performance the first day of Jazz Fest – the kind of music that gets under your skin – Tom Marron was here doing some carpentry work for me – he plays the violin and played the fest with Little Queenie – he asked me what my favorite part of the fest was and I said Lucinda and he said him too. He said that the musicians who played with her couldn’t have played better – that the guitarist played perfect – the whole lot of them – Lucinda on vocals and playing and the band came as close to music nirvana as a person standing on the grass could ever want to hear at Jazz Fest – for that Lucinda I thank you – for being connected to this place, for assembling a first class band, and for being as Tom called her – a writer of songs that are above most anything.

is supposed to call me this week.

J’s friends from Puerto Rico have been in for the whole fest – N and Y – last night after stopping first at Liuzza’s for the after fest and dancing in the streets – I walked home and went there for dinner and listened as N played her Spanish guitar and sang songs of love – Yo soy rebelde, Que dificil es, contar la historia de un momento de amor, Besame mucho, – it was so beautiful – I felt like I had walked off the planet.

Saw Jean Knight do Mr. Big Stuff – my absolute favorite song in the world – it was great – G and I danced up a storm.

Saturday night after a full day at the Fest, we went to Shell Fest. I just found out about this little phenomenon the other day and so it was fun to check it out for myself. It started with people who parked at the Shell Station on Moss and Esplanade who ended up getting a DJ and having an after the fest party right there at the gas station. We stopped by Swirl then headed down Esplanade where we saw a mother waiting on a tow truck – her daughter with a friend were doing not the Electric Slide but something like it so I joined in and after a couple of dances we headed to Shell Fest where we stood by the pumps and danced to the music while kids threw beach balls back and forth to each other and everybody danced.

There was so much excitement in the air yesterday as I was trying to finish up some work that you could cut it with a knife.

By the time I hooked up with G and we entered the Fairgrounds I was ready to pop.

Highlights:

A new Thomas Mann necklace that has a house with a heart cut out in it – my heart is in the LaLa.

Trombone Shorty – hopping up and down even though on my bootied foot – wow.

Astral Project – my neighbor across the bayou is James Singleton – one of the many wow musicians that live in my hood.

Subdudes – they came on late but they rocked and later I saw Tommy Malone walking in the infield and he again called me Little Red Riding Hood – we told him how great they were at the square and the fest – he lives in the hood too – how great is that!

Pine Leaf Boys – a romping mix of zydeco and R&B – lots of fun.

J.J. Grey & MOFRO – dancing music.

Bonearama – lots of brass – playing Helter Skelter when we walked up.

The end all and be all and I just don’t know if this can be topped was Lucinda Williams. I didn’t want to go see her but G insisted. I had seen her in Dallas when L said I needed to hear her live do Change the Locks and she was wooden. OH MY GOD – when I tell you that she got under my skin with Change the Locks, Unsuffer me (I felt like I was on acid or something the way she sang into my soul), Righteously – she was hands down fucking fantastic.

Later sitting on the porch at G – we watched the crowds spill out of the fest – and began to formulate the evening.

We wound up at La Vita sitting outside with M, my contractor, and T and L, and F and Y came to join us and then Moosey and Y drove up – the best part of the evening was when G and I were in the bathroom and found her purse without knowing she left it there! We laughed till our sides ached and she kept saying through her tears – how much fun do we have?

L gave me a New Yorker cartoon right after S and I split up that had a man and woman sitting around a living room and the man looks up and asks “Did you ever have that baby you wanted so badly?” – in my Thomas Mann design workshop I incorporated that along with other mementos into a broach that had W at the center but the tag line from that cartoon on the side.

When S called me and said, “Rachel, do you still want that baby?” and I said yes – I thought the most important part of this call was that I said yes without hesitation.

I’m still waiting to hear from my baby’s mama – it would be a tough decision for her – but I think that this is all a pipeline that comes from saying yes to the universe – I had gotten trapped in a world that says no – no to enlarging your life, no to change, no to so many things – I felt my wings were clipped.

Yes is the word I want to tell the universe. Yes, I do want that baby. My entire tribe wants me to have this baby – everyone is waiting for what happens next.

The church marquee on the corner of Canal and Jeff Davis says Jazz Festing is a good thing – everyone is getting in the spirit around here and tomorrow is the first day!

The excitement is all around – Cabrini had a party in the parking lot, there is a block party crawfish boil around the corner, and all around you see everyone rushing to finish sprucing up the house and yard – welcoming people to our wonderful neighborhood as they find their way to the Fairgrounds for days of music, food, and sunshine.